So today I had a rather unusual encounter. While entering the freeway to head into town some maniac started tailgating me at 80 mph. Not just normal "get the fuck out of the way" tailgating, but like 2 inches-directly-from-my-bumper-about-to-cause-a-crash tailgating. So I speed up a little but realize I'm not going to do 100 mph until I get a ticket, meanwhile cocksucker is still on me like I've got a dead body hanging out the trunk. He finally decides to pass and I let him, only to get up to my window and start flipping me off and other retarded shit, so I just gunned it and blew right past him again.
Once again he starts tailgating me beyond the threshold of safety, so I let off the accelerator and coast down to about 35 mph on the freeway while he continues to stay behind me, until he finally goes for the pass and I just slam on the gas and take off again. He catches up to me again and starts waving goodbye which I dont quite know what to make of, and I start running out of freeway and am forced to enter city streets.
I'm a little nervous to let him box me in at a traffic light or something so I continue to take known roads until I reach a Wal-Mart parking lot. Then we just drive laps at 15 mph around the entire parking lot as he continues to chase me or whatever. I finally punch in the GPS to go to the nearest police station and figure I'll let him chase me there and see what happens. I am forced to stop because a car gets in front of me, at which point he quickly comes up beside me and starts yelling "go on little girl! go on!". I dont really understand what his deal is but I got the impression he was giving me the right of way, which I can only deduce to mean he thinks I cut him off somehow. I usually enter the freeway pretty fast just for the fun of punching the accelerator, but I also make sure the road is clear before doing it. I'm a very courteous and observant driver and there's no way I cut anyone off.
So it kinda got me thinking that this guy might be a psycho, and I'm sitting here having to keep my car in motion to make sure he cant get beside me and shoot me or throw a bottle at my car or whatever. I have a fast car (5.0 mustang) and can pretty much outrun any normal car, but then again I dont really want to have to endanger myself just to run away from some asshole.
But people are crazy in the world and I dont want to become Zimmerman's next victim, so it got me thinking. Aside from my car, I dont have any self-defense capabilities in this world. I dont know how to fight obviously, plus my attacker may not fight fair, I dont have a gun, taser, baton, etc etc. I started to feel like a statistic, like that person who gets mugged/killed because there was nothing I can do. Most people get all self-defense oriented after something shitty happens to them because they dont ever want to let that happen again. I kinda felt like this was a little wakeup call. There have been plenty of times where I'm in sketchy neighborhoods, ATM machines at night, etc etc, where I am just a big target and it would be nice to know I at least have a chance. Afterall, thats why the call a firearm "the great equalizer".
So I'm going to go to a shooting range tomorrow and see what it feels like, because I've never even shot a gun before. I'm also thinking about tasers (the kind that shoot) but since those are basically one-shot only, and look close enough to a real gun that my attacker may start shooting first, I'm still leaning towards good ole fashioned bullets as my best defense.
My goal is to keep this weapon tucked away somewhere in my car. They make car holsters for putting it under your drivers seat, between the seat and arm-rest, etc etc, so you can grab it faster than going for the glovebox.
I've been hearing talk for the last year about Bodog/Bovada and how incredibly fishy it is all the way up through midstakes, and figured surely they jest, else all reg's would be playing there. Supposedly Bovada went out of their way to make the software as uncomfortable for regs as possible so that they simply would refuse to play there. Being a single-table rec player I decided it's time to see what all the talk is about, and put some money on there through a ridiculous process of $100 deposits via some check card I had to get from a gas station.
I must say, the games do seem good. Hardly anybody is ever fullstacked, lots of limping and mind-boggling calls and otherwise total chicanery. This is all at NL200 mind you. And I can see why the regs will never play here, the software is simply the most painful thing you can ever imagine. For starters, the only way to top off is to do it manually after every hand, there is no auto-reload. Furthermore, you must topoff immediately following a fold, otherwise the game ignores your request and you will continue to sit there with $43 for the next hand.
If you stand up from a table you cant sit back down for 5 minutes, no matter what. This means you cant switch seats to gain position on a fish. You stand up, you're basically out. There are no waiting lists, so you can never tell which tables are the juicy one's. You cant even see full tables. The only tables in the lobby are tables with open seats.
Multi-tabling is rage inducing. The game does not do much to notify you in the way of active tables. There are no hotkeys for betting, everything must be done manually. The bet-slider and bet-sizer feel awful. The entire process of multi-tabling just feels gross.
Now you've probably heard about the new hand history feature, whereby you can see everyone's holecards, even without showdown after 24 hours. Aside from the fishpool, this is one of the more fascinating features. The HH's are stored on bovada's server and accessed through a search tool, like browsing PTR to see a hand on someone. It's been very interesting going through yesterday's sessions trying to learn the bluffing frequencies of fish, their true limping ranges, what an UTG minraise means, etc. Since most fish all have a similar playstyle there's plenty to study here.
For instance, I find even the worst players arent really stealing your blind that much. Limping ranges are always trash. Calling ranges are trash, preflop and postflop. Stuff most of you already know. But it's still good to have it reinforced since sometimes we convince ourselves to play -EV because you just cant quite ever be sure if you never see their hand. I find myself playing a much more relaxed game now that I have reviewed 100 hands or so where I just had to know what someone had, and feel much better now about making the correct folds and not getting too spewy.
Do I recommend Bovada? Absolutely for any thinking recreational player, no matter how bad you are. Do I recommend it for grinders? It's hard not to since it's free money, but I can never imagine any grinder putting up with this interface. You thought merge skins were annoying? You've never seen anything like this. I'm sure anyone who plays 12+ tables can make up the difference in EV on Stars vs Bovada's 4-table cap.
A few weeks ago I decided to take a shot at home games again. Every few months I'll drop a buyin at NL200 and hope for a winning session. Finally I had a few. There's this brand new cardroom which just opened up a couple of weeks ago in Florida I want to take a shot at. Below is a graph of my earnings to date, which I intend to bring with me.
I know it's not much, but I've always wanted to play in an actual poker room. Mainly so I can play as long as I want, switch tables, and just to experience the ambiance of it all. I recently discovered overbetting which seems to have helped produce some profits in my short sessions. The general idea is to get pots mostly HU, and take it down with a cbet or value bet TPTK. I still dont feel I'm really "doing it right" overall though. I just bleed too many chips cbetting these massive pots I have created, or get pot committed with overpairs & draws by the turn. Anyway I plan to play 1/2, unless I book a huge session and then maybe I'll buy in once at 2/5.
Here were my notes when I first started playing:
Money is won FROM REAL HANDS, not big bluffs.
Do not play unsuited semi-connectors
Do not play unsuited connectors from any position except the button
Do not cbet with poor equity
Do not call cbets with intention to fold turn. Idiots turn 33 into a bluff.
DO NOT call down with less than top pair without a read.
NOTHING FANCY postflop. Players arent bluffing that much.
It’s GOOD to occasionally raise 89s/Axs/K9s UTG.
It’s OK to occasionally limp 89s/Axs/K9s from EP. Fold more often OOP.
BE PATIENT. They will pay you off eventually.
My notes have now evolved into:
Abuse position vs limpers
Squeeze at every opportunity
Cbet 99% of the time HU/3way
I think my new notes have been introducing a lot more variance/spew, and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not. Any advice welcome and appreciated.
I take a single buyin shot at NL200 live a few times a year when I can, just hoping for a little rungood when I do, and now that time has finally come. +5 BI's in a week = fun time. It's always nice to see your work go towards something, so I took Holly for her first joyride in a private plane.
Just found out my dad passed away last week. I hadn't spoken to him in 6 years. We used to get along great, then one day he came to visit and we got into a big fight over something stupid. I walked away and just never spoke to him again. Him and my mother are my only family. My mom and I get along great, but I think he was too ashamed to ever try and call us to make amends. At first I was punishing him. In part for him threatening to hit me, and because there are certain things I dont like about myself which I attribute towards him, such as my tilt control and motivation in life.
As the months and holiday's went by, I would talk myself out of calling because I thought it was too soon. Then as the years went by I was afraid to call because I thought it would be weird. One day while I was at work I actually got a call from him. I wasnt at my desk at the time but it showed on the caller ID. He didnt leave a voicemail, so I figured if he wants to talk to me he'll call back soon enough. Again months and years went by and I was too afraid to initiate first contact.
Now he's fucking dead. The apartment manager where he lived had to look me up. She used an online people finder service to find out who to contact since he didnt have any information about his family on file. My dad was a loner, just like me. He had no friends or family at all. She told me the hospital called her because she was listed as his emergency contact. Thats right, my dad listed his apartment manager as his emergency contact. They told her he died of cancer.
Apparently he contracted some type of cancer in his arm about 2 years ago, and for whatever reason decided not to seek medical help and rely on self-healing techniques instead. My dad was always kinda hippy'ish like this, but not beyond reason. The manager and him were friendly, and she noticed the tumor on his arm but he refused to talk about it. Eventually he went to the hospital and started chemotherapy for a year before another tumor appeared on his neck. By this time all his hair had fallen out and he was frail and weak. She said he looked deathly ill. One day he told her he was admitting himself to the hospital and would be gone for awhile. She said she knew he wasnt coming back. About a month later he died under a morphine drip in a hospital bed.
She begged him to provide contact information for any family members possible but he refused. I'm not sure if it was out of spite or embarrassment. Perhaps he was just as scared as me to contact us for help. Maybe he didnt want us to see him in such condition. Maybe he thought we still hated him. The point is he was a good man and he died painful and slow, all alone in the world, thinking nobody loved him and nobody cared. I'm glad his pain is over, but I can only imagine what he went through for the last 2 years. He wasn't Osama, he wasn't Hitler, he didn't deserve to die like that. The manager said he didnt leave much behind in his apartment. She felt very sorry for him, knowing he didnt talk to anybody. He was just a shy quiet type of man.
As I reflect on past communication, it wouldnt surprise me at all to find out right around the time he called me was when he probably discovered he had cancer. I almost called him over christmas under pressure from my g/f but decided not to out of anger, an anger that didnt really even exist. You see I wasnt really that mad about what happened. As I said earlier, I was just sorta punishing him for no good reason. Sort of like hurting a small animal to satisfy some sick desire in yourself. I felt good by making him feel bad.
I cant begin to describe my grief now. So if there is anybody out there in the world who you havent told you loved in awhile, tell em now while you still can. Dont let stupid petty shit fuck with your relationships. I'll be flying to texas to collect his belongings and arrange to have his body shipped so my mother and I can bury him. We will probably be the only 2 people there.
Some of you may remember my brief love affair with a Nissan 370z. That deal went south after the dealership fucked me and tried to change the contract after I already had the vehicle for a week and put 500 miles on it. I told them to fuck off and gave back the keys. Went back to car hunting and settled on a Mustang this time. It's cheaper, faster, bigger, and more comfortable. This time I made sure to pay the dealership in CASH so there would be no fucking around like "well you see there was a problem with the paperwork son, we need you to come back here and pay us more".
I had this car custom ordered straight from the factory. By the time I was given the keys it only had 5.9 miles on it. Only a handful of asses have touched the drivers seat. I went so far as to tell them not to even unwrap/wash it upon delivery. I drove it home dirty as fuck covered in dust and plastic from shipment. Had it detailed and windows tinted the next day, and began work on my first fun upgrade, a new car nav kit. You can see it in the youtube video below sort of documenting the installation. I turn giddy as a schoolgirl every time I see it light up and begin driving. Turned out exactly like I wanted it to. The only other upgrades I can think of would be new exhaust/speakers but even those I am supremely satisfied with.
So I'm still looking for a new Z, debating whether or not to wait until the '12 models come out. Could be awhile considering rumors that the Tsunami likely slowed down production.
Anyway we know which exterior color to get, but what about interiors? I originally went with black, but I'm starting to think a Persimmon color would really pop and give it that Italian sports car look.
So if you remember I was debating between a grey or black Nissan 370z last week. Well I finally bought one, in black, only to get a phone call from the dealer today telling me "sorry man, the financing fell through, we have to raise your rate to get you refinanced for the car". This is actually a rather common scam from dealerships, a type of bait and switch on the purchase price for the car. Their strategy is that you will either fall in love with the car and just accept the price hike, or be too stupid to know it's a scam and just eat it.
But I said fuck that shit, and took the fucker back. Ordinarily I would be subject to all sorts of fines for putting miles on it and so forth, but they made one huge fuckup. The mileage on the sales receipt is different from the miles on the inspection report, which I found in the glove box, which they forgot to remove. The inspection report states the vehicle had 200 miles on it. The sales receipt stated 19. This already pissed me off once I learned about it since it basically means my car was a fucking demo unit used for test rides. I'm sure every asshole that drove it around the block did so at 8000 rpm's, and anyone who knows anything about cars recognizes this as a big no-no.
My wife's mother is a lawyer and she gave me all the legal verbiage to use against them basically voiding the entire sales contract and just handing them back the keys. So now I'm back cruising around in my fully loaded altima again. I'll miss my Z, was fun getting a 7 day test run out of it. But this all worked out for the best since now I'm just gonna wait for the 2012 model and probably get better financing out of the situation anyway going to a bank myself. If there's one thing I learned from this, never EVER do dealership financing. I've done this 3x before and I knew I wasnt getting the best rate, but now I've been burned hard and wont ever let it happen again. People, ALWAYS go to your local bank or credit union, or even an online loan service, get the loan, and bring a blank check to the dealership to write for the cash value you intend on paying to drive the car home. This way you never even set foot into a financier's office.
Been clinging on to my hero bankroll for the last few months since I won a freeroll back in may or whenever it was. Splashed around a little, decided to purge my database and start over fresh with some HU lessons.
Started off pretty well bumhunting, but after waiting 2 hours to get any real action today I decided to sit with the regs instead. Dumped my entire roll to an amazing luckbox reg who kept 3betting shit hands vs me that I eventually raged and just started spewing in every spot, but he'd always get there no matter what.
Anyway it was free money while it lasted so I cant be too upset. I never really intended to do anything with it since it's microstakes and there's no way to cashout. Even if I could cashout I hear best case scenario is like 8-10 weeks waiting period, then another 3 weeks just for it to clear bank or some craziness.
At least the live scene is sick good in my city though. Played NL200 last week and mother fuckers were topping up to $1000 and shit lol. Lost with top set to a flush draw in my first 30 minutes and havent been back since, but being my only option now I certainly will. There's gotta be about 3k on average to be won at these games. Just have to hope for the best.
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